Morinaud Law (Loi Morinaud -1923, Tunisia)

(337 words)

The Morinaud Law (Loi Morinaud) was a French law promulgated in 1923 that enabled Tunisian Jews, who under the agreement establishing the French protectorate were subjects of the bey, to become French citizens. The law was the result of consistent pressure exerted by Tunisian Jews both before and after the First World War. French policy toward the naturalization of Tunisians up to this point had been conflicted. On the one hand, the French tried to assimilate them into French culture, but on the other hand, they did not want to make all of them French citizens, as were the Jews of Algeria under…